Considering an Astro or Safari Van

Hello everyone, I have a 92 S10 i've been in love with for years... just put a Jasper motor in it after 260K (wouldn't pass smog but ran strong). I'm thinking of purchasing a 2004 safari AWD with the 4.3 for my family (had our first child a few months ago). I'm wondering if anyone has any advice what to look for on this year. My mechanic said fuel issues are common. It seems like people commonly get about 18mpg? My s10 only gets about 12 but I live in the mountains and I think i need to replace the injectors.
Your thoughts are appreciated!

Welcome to the club I don't really know anything about those vans, I do know some one who has one and he hasn't had any problems with it but that's about all I can tell you, hopefully some one will be along here soon to help you out

welcome to the club!
Hey, just came across this. I had a 93 Safari and a 2004 ASTRO. All wheel drives had issues with the torsion bar being undersized and owners would come out and find the one side of the vehicle nose to the ground as the torsion bar broke. then if it didn't get towed soon enough the other side would break. Both of mine had the rear air and it was well liked by our 2 youngsters back then I much preferred the 93 over the 2004 as did mi wife as there was less rattles in it. The 2004 turning radius was larger than the 93, I did sell my 2004 with 40000Km on it and got a fair price for it.
Get the dutch door and I'm not to sure about where you live but up here we use lots of road salt and these seem to rust out the Dutch door at the back and about 12 inches back of the drivers door so under coating every year makes it better. I found the fit and finish below par on my astro around the dash. No big issues though either one never left me stranded. I had the 2 benches and often opted to put the 2 in the back row, the captain chairs are bolted in.
Like anything else on gas mileage the right foot with me is the deciding factor mostly. I think I did manage 20 mpg though. I loved the access to the back of the motor and had it off numerous times on the 93 but never on the 2004, (never had to).

If you have specific questions let me know.

Oh the front end seemed to need alignments more on the 2004. I aligned it once at 25000km as I had noticeable tire wear. The 93 I dont ever remember an alignment and I drove it from 80000 km to 283,000km.

Talking to some mechanics today, I heard that the late 90's CPI had a lot of problems? He strongly urged me to get a 04 or 05 MPI... said the CPI had detonation issues and fuel leakage issues. They specifically told me to avoid vin code 8th digit of W. Any stories or experience there?